Paul Lloyd, Jr.
|birth_place = Cape Town, South Africa |death_date = |death_place = |resides = Florida, |billed = Cape Town, South Africa |trainer = Paul Lloyd, Sr. Steve Debbes Alex Shane Mark Sloan |debut = 1997 |retired = }} Paul Lloyd Jr. (March 3, 1981) is a second-generation South African professional wrestler. He is signed with WWE, and performs on the SmackDown brand under the name Justin Gabriel. He was a contestant in the first season of WWE NXT, where he finished third, before joining The Nexus stable on Raw. He has held the WWE Tag Team Championship alongside Heath Slater for three reigns. He is also a former FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion. Career Early Years Paul Lloyd, Jr. made his professional wrestling debut at the age of 16 and was originally trained by his father Paul Lloyd, Sr., a legendary promoter and wrestler in South Africa who also went by the ring name "The Pink Panther". His grandfather was a professional boxer and amateur wrestler. Paul Lloyd, Jr. grew up watching his father wrestle and in the early part of his training he used to practice in the backyard of his home, which had two rings positioned. Paul went by the ring name PJ Black. He formed a regular tag team with Ray Leppan (who went by the name Presley Jackson, now known as Dameon Duke) called Pure Juice. During Paul Lloyd Jr.'s final year in high school his father passed away and a year after he moved to the United Kingdom for five years. Frontier Wrestling Alliance and United Kingdom (2000-2005) Paul Lloyd, Jr. spent five years in the United Kingdom, where he trained with the FWA Academy as well as acquiring diplomas in Graphic Web Design, Personal Training, Sports Nutrition and Body Massage. He was trained by Alex Shane and Mark Sloan. In 2003 he made his FWA debut. He also made an appearance in International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (IPW: UK). World Wrestling Professionals (2006-2008) In 2006 he returned to South Africa and wrestled primarily for World Wrestling Professionals, which was on national television at the time. His most notable feuds during his tenure in WWP were against Steve Debbes, Dameon Duke, Mikey Whiplash and Joe E Legend. In 2007 he became the first-ever WWP Cruiserweight World Champion. World Wrestling Entertainment (2009-present) He signed a three-year developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2008, becoming the first South African person in history to sign a WWE contract. He debuted in WWE's development territory Florida Championship Wrestling in early 2009 , initially competing under his real name which later changed to'' Justin Angel.'' On the July 23, 2009 FCW TV Tapings Justin Angel and Kris Logan defeated Trent Beretta and Caylon Croft to become the 11th FCW Florida Tag Team Champions, but lost it on the same night to The Rotundos. Angel won the FCW Heavyweight Championship from Heath Slater in a "best two out of three falls" match at the September 24, 2009 TV taping. He lost the FCW Championship to Alex Riley in a match involving Riley,Gabriel and Wade Barrett NXT and The Nexus(2010-2011) On February 16, 2010, it was announced that Angel was going to be competing on the first season of WWE NXT, under the name Justin Gabriel, with Matt Hardy as his storyline mentor.He made his in-ring debut on the March 2 episode of NXT in a tag team match with his mentor Hardy, against the team of William Regal and Skip Sheffield. Gabriel and Hardy won the match when Gabriel pinned Regal, making him the first rookie to pin a pro on the show.He went on to defeat Wade Barrett the following week, before suffering his first defeat on the March 16 episode of NXT, when he and Hardy were defeated by CM Punk and Darren Young.On March 30, in the first Pros Poll, Gabriel was ranked third behind Daniel Bryan (first) and Wade Barrett (second).Before the first elimination, Gabriel won the Rookie Challenge earning immunity from elimination in the following Pros Poll.In that Poll, Gabriel remained in third place behind Wade Barrett (who was moved to first) and David Otunga (second).In the season finale on the June 1 episode of NXT, Gabriel was the first eliminated, finishing in third place overall in the competition. On the June 7 episode of Raw, Gabriel and the other season one NXT rookies turned heel by interfering in the main event match between John Cena and CM Punk, attacking both competitors, the announcing team and Justin Roberts, the ring announcer, before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment.On the June 14 episode of Raw the rookies (excluding Daniel Bryan who had been released) attacked General Manager Bret Hart, when he refused to give them contracts.At the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view, the seven rookies interfered in the WWE Championship match, as a result costing Cena the championship. The following week on Raw, Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new General Manager, who had signed the seven season one NXT rookies to contracts.The following week, the group was named The Nexus.On the July 12 episode of Raw, The Nexus competed in their first match together, without Darren Young, a six–on–one handicap match against John Cena, which they won when Gabriel pinned Cena. The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam. Gabriel was one of the final two Nexus members in the match, but Cena's team won when Cena eliminated Gabriel and then Barrett to win the match. In October 2010, Cena was forced to join The Nexus as a result of losing to Barrett at Hell in a Cell, and at the following pay-per-view, Cena and Otunga won the WWE Tag Team Championship.On the October 25 episode of Raw, Barrett made a tag team match, with Gabriel and Heath Slater facing Otunga and Cena for the championship. Gabriel and Slater won when Barrett ordered Otunga to allow Slater to pin him, becoming the new Tag Team Champions.Gabriel and Slater held the championship for nearly two months, before losing it to Santino Marella and Vladimir Kozlov in a four-way elimination match also involving The Usos and Mark Henry and Yoshi Tatsu as a result of interuption by John Cena. Gabriel and Slater received a rematch for the championship at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view on December 19, but lost by disqualification when Nexus member Michael McGillicutty interfered. The Corre (2011) On January 11 edition of Raw,CM Punk commenced Nexus initiations,Gabriel and Slater was told to hit each other with a kendo stick but they refused thus making them no longer a Nexus member. The same week on Smackdown taping,Gabriel and Slater intefered in Wade Barrett's match and helped Wade Barrett beat down Big Show,they were later joined by Ezekiel Jackson.The next week,Wade Barrett revealed the new stable as "The Corre ".Later that night,Smackdown's on screen consultant,Vickie Guerrero announced that Gabriel will fight Edge in a match which Gabriel won with some inteference by The Corre.At Royal Rumble,Gabriel competed on his first Royal Rumble match and entered as #3 but was unsuccesful when he was elimated by Daniel Bryan On 18 February edition of Smackdown,Gabriel and Slater got a shot on the WWE Tag Team Championship but lost via disqualification.They received their rematch on Elimination Chamber and succesfully won the title.The next night on Monday Night Raw, they lost the title to John Cena and The Miz, but won the title back minutes later after Wade Barrett invoked the Corre's rematch clause.Gabriel and The Corre went to thier first Wrestlemania in a losing effort to Big Show ,Kane ,Santino Marella & Kofi Kingston in an 8-man tag team match.The next week on Smackdown,they also lose in the 2 out of 3 falls rematch where Gabriel was pinned in the first fall and The Corre was disqualified in the third fall.At the April 19 taping of SmackDown, the duo of Gabriel and Slater lost the Tag Team Championship to the team of Kane and The Big Show.In a backstage segment following the match, Gabriel was pushed by Slater, who blamed him for their loss.The next week,Gabriel and Slater invoked a rematch clause but loss. On the May 6 episode of''SmackDown'', Gabriel, Barrett, and Slater attacked Jackson, removing him from the group. In wrestling *'Finishing moves' **450° Splash *'Signature Moves' **Blue Thunder Driver **Corkscrew Plancha **Running leaping or diving Shoulder block **Gabriel Special (Tilt-a-whirl into an inverted headlock elbow drop),often used as a counter **Headscissors armbar preceeded by Russian Legsweep **Heel Hook **High-Angle Senton Bomb (WWP) **Hurricanrana ,sometimes from second rope **Multiple Kicks variations ***Jumping Rolling Sole ,sometimes with Shoot kicks Combo ***Drop ***Spin ***Super **Koji Clutch preceded by Reverse STO or STO **Overhead gutwrench backbreaker rack flipped sideways into an implant DDT **Springboard crossbody **Slingshot Somersault Senton **STO **Tilt-a-whirl DDT **Top Rope Springboard Moonsault *'Tag Teams and Stables' :*With Kris Logan :*''Pure Juice'' (with Dameon Duke also known as Ray Leppan in FCW ) :*Nexus :*'The Corre' *'Managers' **Laralicious (Lara Jepps) **Matt Hardy *'Nicknames' **"The Poster Boy" (WWP) **"The South African Sensation" (WWE) *'Entrance themes' **"What Love Is" by Jim Johnston (FCW) **"Wild & Young" by American Bang (Used while on NXT by himself or while with the other NXT Rookies) **"We Are One" by 12 Stones (used as part of Nexus) **'"End Of Days"' by Shaman's Harvest (used as a part of The Corre) Championships and accomplishments *'Florida Championship Wrestling' :*FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time) :*FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Kris Logan *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' :*PWI Feud of the Year (2010) – :*PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (2010) - :*PWI ranked him #141 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010 *'World Wrestling Entertainment' :*WWE Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Heath Slater :*Slammy Awards for Shocker of The Year the debut of The Nexus *'International Wrestling Federation: South Africa' :*IWF Cruiserweight Championship (1 time) *'SAWING' :*SAWING Cruiserweight Championship (1 time) *'World Wrestling Professionals' :*WWP Cruiserweight World Championship (1 time) External links *WWE.com profile Category:African wrestlers Category:NXT alumni Category:WWE NXT Category:1981 births Category:1997 debuts Category:Florida Championship Wrestling alumni Category:Frontier Wrestling Alliance alumni Category:FWA Academy alumni Category:International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom alumni Category:World Wrestling Entertainment current roster